Just Saying No to the City of Yes
See What's Driving the Urgency to Pass the 1386 Page 'City of Yes' Bill Now ...
... in Addition to being a Dishonestly-Sold, Anti-Democracy Bill, that Strips Communities of their Rights, Guarantees NO Affordable Housing, Likely will Inflate the Cost of NYC Real Estate, and Mostly Benefits the Elite, Super Rich Class of Real Estate Donors who Staffed the Group that Wrote the 1386 Page Bill & Funded the Campaigns of Mayor Adams and Numerous NYC Council Members, and Deprives NYC & NYS of Much Needed Future Tax Revenue for 10 to 40 Years
December 3, 2024 vs 11.29.24 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Things To Do Events / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
The photo above or at right shows NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who made an effort to rectify some of the deceitful promises of the City of Yes zoning changes, by negotiating some changes which are more likely to result in the creation of some truly affordable housing - but still very far short from justifying the incredible amount of government tax abatement giveaways that the City of Yes will enable, in light of the 421a NYS property tax law extension, wherein the taxpayers give the rich developers' properties 10 - 40 years tax free, in exchange for the real estate developers building apartments for tenants who earn up to between $141,000 and $183,000 per year.
Is this kind of public policy borderline or outright insane?
I STILL HAVE THE GRAPHICS TO DO, BUT THE VOTING BEGINS NOW, SO UP WE GO.
A democracy is only as good as the people who comprise it.
The incredibly thoughtful and well written documents upon which our democracy was founded, as well as our historical precedent, help.
But in the end, all of the earlier work that went into creating and maintaining our democracy, will be rendered meaningless, if the current and living heirs to our democracy, fail to pay attention to what their elected officials are doing to them - not for them.
And once aware - or even awake - those people must then take intelligent, courageous and decisive action to quickly correct abuses of power, by those who have been entrusted with it. Generally a population doesn't lose the protection of the rule of law, and fall back into servitude, in one swell swoop. They fall back into poverty and servitude, 1) one executive action, 2) one legislative action, and 3) one institutional action, at a time. And that is what we are witnessing on a local and national scale simultaneously.
Mayor Adams and his Cohorts Draft City of Yes without Community Participation
Campaign Funding in 2021. After winning the Democratic primary in June of 2021, Adams continued on fundraising efforts, even though he had essentially won the Mayoralty, meeting with wealthy real estate developers and millionaires and billionaires out on Long Island and at Martha's Vineyard. I reckon the further away from the public eye, the better
Year One - Drafting the City of Yes Proposal 2022. After raising the millions he didn't need to ride onto victory, and interacting with the well heeled developers, Adams set to work on their agenda.
During the first year of the Adams Administration, the Mayor met with members of the Real Estate Board of NY, representatives of large businesses, as well as representatives of a few non-profits and community groups that have been funded in part by these wealthy people. They called themselves the New New York.
The New New York began setting up its goals for the Adams Administration, which focused almost entirely on zoning legislation. Rank and file New Yorkers were NOT involved in helping the New New York draft the City of Yes legislation; and as far as I know, neither were any NYC Council members nor any board members of the 59 community boards that represent the people of NYC in conducting zoning and real estate related matters.
Mayor Adams' Deputy Mayor, Maria Torres-Springer, reportedly led the effort.
One could very reasonably ask whether the City of Yes zoning law changes are a quid pro quo between Mayor Adams and people like Stephen Ross and other REBNY members who supported Adams' bid for Mayor.
Mayor Adams & Garodnick of City Planning Plot Their Sales Approach
Year Two - Figuring Out How to Sell It to the Public 2023. According to a January 2024 presentation by Alicia Boyd of MTOPP, a Brooklyn based community organization, the New New York group came up with a 111 points or text amendments they wanted to make into NYC zoning laws. This became the City of Yes legislative proposal. There are those who believe it was named City of Yes to psychologically suggest to legislators that they vote yes in favor of the zoning changes. But that was only the beginning of the various manipulative sales techniques and deceits used to convince both the public and the NYC Council to approve it.
Mayor Adams and his cohorts at the Department of City Planning met with members of the community and boards - but only AFTER the bill had been drafted. So, folks knew they weren't being asked for their input to solving NYC's 'affordable housing crisis' but rather used as focus groups by Daniel Garodnick and Adams, to figure out how to sell this real estate developer and billionaire-crafted legislation, to the public.
Thirty Eight Community Boards Say No to City of Yes
Year Three - Seeking Passage of the Bill 2024. There are 59 Community Boards which are comprised of volunteers who represent the various neighborhoods located in the five boroughs. The community board members are chosen by the Borough Presidents in tandem with the local NYC Council members. These community board members are generally longstanding residents, closely connected to their communities, and somewhat knowledgeable through experience, about zoning regulations in NYC.
So, why did only one of these Community Boards recommend passage of the City of Yes without conditions, while 38 of them flat out said no [this is of 59 boards documented by Streets Blog]. And another 20 of them said they would consider passing it, but only if certain conditions were added to the bill. Be advised that when conditions attached to bills are not in the interest of the rich and powerful, they are rarely acted upon.
Doesn't it seem that if the Adams Administration had any respect for our democratic processes, they would have scrapped the bill at this point and started over? No and they didn't. They put a fresh coat of lipstick on the legislative pig, and kept marshalling it through the approval process, to where we are today. One vote away from it getting approved - or shot down.
Adams' Effort is Aided and Abetted by Real Estate Industry Millionaires & Billionaires Funding of Numerous NYC Council Members Campaigns & Many of Those Pols Won
But the real estate industry wasn't taking any chances, that NYC Council members would actually represent the people who voted for them, instead of the people who funded their campaigns. So, in the last municipal election in 2021, the real estate developers used their wealth to back NYC Council candidates they believed would work on their behalf and vote for the City of Yes. This is why the City of Yes is expected to be passed by the NYC Council - because many NYC Council members been signfiicantly funded by the people pushing the City of Yes.
The Dishonest Sales Promotion of the 'City of Yes' Legislation
There were a number of things the Adams Administration did, to try to deceive New Yorkers into thinking that the City of Yes would solve the 'affordable housing crisis'.
First, they promised this will solve the affordable housing crisis, by igniting an affordable housing boom of some 109,000 units, when in fact there are no guarantees that any affordable housing will be built at all because of the zoning legislation.
Speaker Adrienne Adams corrected part of that dishonesty by negotiating for more money [$5 billion] and more truly affordable housing units [some available to folks making 40% of the AMI, which is an income of $43,500]. This resulted in the lowering of the estimate of the 'affordable housing' units the City of Yes will produce by 29,000 units down to 80,000 units - see our prior report dated November 27, 2024 in our City of Yes Special Reports section.
In a NY Minute, the Mayor Miraculously Comes up with $4 Billion, After Trying to Cut Millions from Public Schools & Libraries
So, one of the questions I have to ask, is how did Mayor Adams go from cutting $100 million out of the public schools budget and $36 million out of the public libraries budget about a year ago; to coming up with $4 billion of the $5 billion [NYS chipped in $1 billion] to get the City of Yes through the NYC Council Committee on what seemed a moments notice, during the negotiations with the NYC Council Speaker. When NYC public schools and libraries need funding, Adams says money is hard to find, but when the Mayor's millionaire / billionaire real estate developer funders / friends need it, POOF the money magically appears.
Editor's Note. You can Help by Taking Action. Henceforth if any NYC or NYS government official or any candidate running for office in NYC or NYS uses the term 'affordable' with housing - DEMAND that they give you monthly rental prices and unit sizes - or this rampant deceit of the Electorate vis-a-vis fraudulent 'affordabe' housing, will go on endlessly. Hold the tricksters, like Mayor Adams, accountable.
Where's the Fine Print?
NYC City Planning Leaves Key Points Out of Presentations - Taking Power Away
In their presentations to Community Boards, the Department of City Planning left out a HUGE number of relevant details, including that they essentially want to put the Community Boards out of business, and somewhere between minimize and eliminate, any input into zoning for new developments from the City Council.
This, in essence, transfers all of the power over new developments or changing developments to, what today seems like an incredibly corrupt, Mayor and his Administration. All of these changes are anti-democracy, anti-people, anti-community-engagement by and for New Yorker residents and businesses, vis-a-vis what the billionaire developers and their international investors can do to the streets and neighborhoods, we - not they - live and work in.
The Adams Administration told folks that a poll showed most New Yorkers were in support of City of Yes. What they didn't and wouldn't [I asked and received no response] tell folks is who funded that poll, and that that poll was done using experimental methods.
The 1,386 page City of Yes Kitchen Sink Legislation isn't Ready for Passage
There are still too many issues with the huge legislative package for the NYC Council to pass it. Of course that doesn't mean they won't. The following are a few of them, provided to me by a community board consultant, George Janes, and a Brooklyn activist, Alicia Boyd.
Janes says that the bill doesn't provide any guidelines nor minimum requirements for how many units a huge buildings with few units should provide. Conversely, it allows for the creation of buildings which could be comprised entirely of studio apartments, essentially ensuring that the people who live there, have lower incomes and less space.
It does nothing to address housing unit losses via conversions.
There aren't any mandates for affordable housing units, as in many [most?] other jurisdictions, including Westchester. This is a way to not only fund affordable housing units, but also to ensure there's some level of integration between lower / middle income residents, with higher income residents in a building / neighborhood.
In his testimony before the NYC Council, Janes said, " ... COYHO changes basic zoning standards, reducing sizes of rear yards, side yards, legal windows, courts, and open space. City of Yes changes the fundamental building blocks of the City without conditioning those changes on the creation of affordable housing. It creates new CPC [City Planning Commission] authorizations, where the Council would cede their power to an unelected and unaccountable CPC, which would hold no public hearings on those authorizations ...".
Brooklyn community activist, Alicia Boyd of MTOPP, said in her presentation in January of 2024, that the Adams Administration wants want to remove Environmental Assessment Statements (EAS) and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) as a requirement for the development of a large class of large buildings. Assuming I understand this correctly, [I'm reaching out to her] this means you could be living next to a toxic dump that has been dormant for decades [so no problem to date], but then a new building is planned on your block, which opens up the toxic site, and you don't get to know about it and react to it, before it becomes your problem.
Media Failures & Where's the Supporting Infrastructure?
The traditional media coverage of the City of Yes by TV and newspapers, has been somewhere between inadequate to ignorant to dishonest. It's worth pointing out that newspapers like the NY Daily News and NY Post are owned by billionaires who travel in the same social circles as the billionaire and millionaire real estate developers behind this plan, and with whom they share some of their media ownership. And it's possible that Mayor Adams is using the NYC local ad spending, provided for in Local Law 83, to pressure the smaller ethnic and community media outlets to tow the Administration's party line on this bill.
The City of Yes is a 1,386 page document. So what's been identified above, is the only a small sampling of the issues we're going to have to deal with to compensate for the real estate developers and investors' tax abatement and housing windfall. For example, without Community Boards reviewing developments, public lands can be taken away from a community without them even knowing, like they could have been in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, had it not come to the attention of local pols via the community board. And without community board input, the infrastructure to support real estate developments likely won't be addressed until after the fact, at best causing temporary hardship, while forcing government spending in support of private industry without community input.
The Dirty Little Secret Driving the Urgency of the City of Yes
This brings us to the last City of Yes [COY] issue for you to consider and that's funding. Why are we, the taxpayers, giving all of this money to the richest people among us, to build expensive luxury apartments? Some will argue that the new tax abatement schedule, 425a, only gives tax abatements for between 10 - 40 years of property tax free ownership, to those developers who are creating apartments that are affordable to people making 60% or 80% of the AMI [Area Median Income].
My response to that is two fold - 1) Dishonest & Exaggerated HPD Area Median Income Numbers. The numbers they use to calculate AMI or Area Median Income are so dishonest that they are laughable. It's generally believed that the Area Median Income for an individual in NYC is about $ 60,000 to $65,000. The HPD chart says that half of the people in NYC make over $108,000 - not $65,000 - and they use their higher number, not the real one, to calculate the tax abatement numbers. I can only hypothesize that the real estate industry exercises an incredible amount of influence over the conjuring up of those numbers.
2) NYS Extension of 421a Tax Breaks Means Huge Loss of Tax Revenue for COY 'Affordable' Luxury Apartments. In April the NYS legislature approved the extension of 421a Tax breaks for another five years to June 2031. The 421a allows for tax abatements of between 10 - 40 years for the creation of affordable apartments which may be defined by apartments that are 'affordable' for those earning up to 130% of the AMI, which for an individual [using the HPD chart] is $141,000 and for a three person family is $183,000. The assumption is that they then spend up to 30% of their income on rent - or $4,575 / month for the $183,000, and that's what they are calling an 'affordable' apartment. You tell me if you think that's what most New Yorkers would consider an affordable apartment.
So why are taxpayers going to pay all of this money for these rich developers to create apartments for rich tenants? This makes no sense, when you consider that this loss in funding is coming from public education, libraries, sanitation, healthcare, the NYPD, the NYFD, social services and the creation of real affordable housing - not the dishonest kind, as just described above.
Will somebody please get an estimate of how much this will cost taxpayers and what we will get. And don't tell me 80,000 units of affordable housing because 'affordable' the way NYC and NYS government officials use it, is absolutely meaningless. Tell me 30,000 studio apartments at $2,700 / month, 30,000 one bedroom apartments at $3,500 / month and 20,000 two bedroom apartments at $4,500 / month.
What's wrong with the 'mainstream' media that they're not reporting this? And what's wrong with our elected officials that they are doing this to us? And ultimately, you have to ask yourself, what's wrong with us in the electorate, that we let these sorts of abuses go unchecked. There's an election coming up in June 2025 - the Democratic primary. And if anyone out there is thinking of running for NYC Council or Mayor, pay attention to this issue and this vote, because this could easily be made into the defining issue of the year.
A Few Last Things To Consider
Pols are Transferring Your Money & Power to the Rich Who Fund Their Campaigns & Compromising Our Future
First former Governor Cuomo tried to get $20 billion in funding included in the NYS budget, and then Hochul tried to get $25 billion in the budget to fund 'affordable housing'. NYS and NYC government officials cannot seem to give away tax revenue fast enough to the billionaires, and real estate developers and investors fast enough. If you want to understand why rich people don't pay taxes at the same rate you do, this is just one - but a glaring one - example. And you're responsible in part, because you keep electing people who work for those who fund their campaigns instead of for those who voted for them.
The unrelenting greed of Wall Street and REITs will, over time, outbid everyone else for all the land in America. Left unchecked, they will make all Americans tenants, unless, we the people, get the government to step in and regulate REITs and similar entities.
Is Eric Adams to be trusted? After convincing NYCHA residents to give up their rights, Adams facilitated the transference of those rights to rich real estate developers. Adams seems to encourage those who have placed their trust in him, to sell now and pay later.
When Adams was Brooklyn Borough President, he encouraged the Brooklyners to relinquish ownership of the property upon which the Brooklyn Library once stood, in exchange for some fast cash.
Why have 5,000 NYCA Housing units become vacant since Adams took office, if we're really in an 'affordable' housing crisis?
And a little known / discussed fact is that Adams spent some time in real estate while on the NYPD and while a State Senator. According to a January 19, 2024 report in the Real Deal, "... The mayor worked as a broker in the 1990s when he was off-duty from the New York Police Department, according to a City Hall spokesperson. He also disclosed work as a real estate consultant when he was a state senator ...".
The 'Affordable Housing Crisis' Government Sponsored Lies?
The Hugely Inflated AMI ...
Make no mistake about it, the media in NYC and NYS isn't doing a very good job of covering one of the most important issues of our present time. They just repeat - without thinking - whatever the government or big business tells them - like they're reading it off of a teleprompter.
The real estate industry's influence within HPD seems visible in the AMI's published by HPD, which are so out of touch with the economic reality of most New Yorkers. I don't know how they get away with it. HPD states that the AMI income is $108,700, while all other estimates I find are far below that ranging from $40,000 which is wrong, but less wrong than the HPD figure, and the figure I find most often is in the $65,000 range. Google AI says that 80% of NYC salaries fall between $34,000 and $74,000, so how HPD comes up with $108,700 as the median income, that we use to provide tax forgiveness to the rich real estate developers and investors would seem terribly erroneous, if not corrupt.
... and the Hugely Deflated 1.4% Vacancy Rate
The real estate industry's influence over what I've come to believe are the brain dead teleprompter readers on TV is also very recognizable, as much of what I see presented on their media outlets appear to be pretty close to unedited publicity pieces. So caveat emptor - buyer beware - reader / viewer beware of who you're trusing to provide you with intelligent and reliable information.
One of the statistics the TV folks have been repeating like a parrot press, is the 1.4% vacancy rate in NYC. Thankfully, not all of the media is brain dead yet.
There were some 42,860 vacant rent stabilized apartments in 2022 per the Census Bureau. In 2023 the Census Bureau said that there are only about 26,310 vacant apartments, of which about 3,000 were categorized as uninhabitable. These numbers are not factored in when the Census Bureau published that NYC has a 1.4% vacancy rate. So note that we have a vacancy rate if you don't include all of the rent stabilized apartments being warehoused by the land owners in this city. Use this link to learn more about the vacancy rate lie.
https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/02/14/rent-stabilized-apartments-vacant/
... And Incompetently Managed & Completely Ineffective Tenant Protection Bureaucracies
Based on reliable anecdotal reports, neither the NYC nor NYS tenant protection units, HPD and the DHCR, actually do what they falsely claim / advertise they do. Instead of protecting tenants, they seem to be agents of the real estate industry and landlords. Why aren't NYC and NYS officials talking about actually enforcing the tenant protection laws, which I know for a fact anecdotally that they don't do.
To give you an idea of how ineffective the DHCR and HPD are consider this. New York has lost over ONE HALF MILLION rent stabilized apartments since 2000. Possibly more because the agencies entrusted to track this information in NYC and NYS, which are HPD and DHCR respectively, don't seem very competent at anything, except perhaps kowtowing to the landlords and real estate industry.
Alternative Approaches to Solving the 'Affordable Housing' Crisis without Providing Huge Free Passes on Taxes to Some of the Richest People in NYC, NYS, USA and the World
The City of Yes is expected, probably dishonestly, to generate the creation of 80,000 'affordable' housing units over the next 15 years that may not honestly be truly affordable to the average New Yorker at all. That translates into 5,333 per year. Here are a few remedies, off the top of my head, that will result in far more real rent stabilized / affordable housing availabilities than the stinky City of Yes. in the nearer term, and they'll cost very little
1. YEAR ONE. Use the 5,000 NYCA units that became vacant since Eric Adams took office to house people.
2. YEAR TWO. Legislate Huge & Escalating Rent Stabilized Apartment Vacancy Penalties. Why hasn't Adams and the NYC Council imposted a vacancy fee on all rent stabilized apartments in NYC that have been vacant for more than a year? Why doesn't Adams implement an escalating fee that rises for each additional vacant unit in any rent stabilized building, because these landlords are in the process of destroying existing rent stabilized apartments and likely in the process of attempting to harass the rent stabilized tenants out of their homes.
There are currently an estimated [but we don't really know because HPD and the DHCR don't really seem to know] 26,000 plus vacant rent stabilized apartments [it was as high as 42,000 in 2019 but it is believed that landlords are 'hiding' them] and some of those should shake loose, and in the meantime begin investigating those landlords' actions vis-a-vis their rent stabilized tenants, and you'll likely find a lot of harassment that hasn't been remedied by HPD or the DHCR. That should help stem the loss of rent stabilized units because the tenants will be more likely to stay.
3. YEAR TWO. Stop or Moderate the Rent Stabilized Rent Increases like Mayor de Blasio did. These unrelenting rent increases, particularly during the Bloomberg years, forced thousands out of their rent stabilized apartments. This will stem the losses of rent stabilized housing, as we saw after Mayor de Blasio came to office and moderated / stopped the price increases on rent stabilized units.
4. Use Real Economics - Not the Pseudo 'Silent Hand' Economics to Create Real Affordable Housing Supply. Why doesn't NYC and NYS stop giving tax breaks to rich developers to rent to people, and instead invest the money to create new truly affordable housing units, where the purchase price is pegged to the real - not HPD - Area Median Income. This would foster a city of owners, not a city of tenants. This proposal shares some characteristics with the Mitchell Lama housing units, a small amout of which Speaker Adrienne Adams negotiated into the City of Yes deal.
The Mayor and Governor keep wanting to throw billions of taxpayer funded abatements in the direction of the real estate industry that funds their campaigns, instead of doing their job which is to make those bloated ineffective bureaucracies HPD and the DHCR actually do their jobs. This could be kicked off by setting up a dashboard of all complaints filed with each agency and then record tenant / landlord satisfaction. Currently I'd wager it's 85% landlord satisfaction and below 15% tenant satisfaction [if not ZERO].
5. Implement the Low Hanging Fruit of the City of Yes Proposal. Why doesn't the NYC Council scrap the City of Yes, and implement the low hanging fruit outlined in that package in separately drafted bills - written by the NYC Council with community input. Examples of the low hanging fruit seem to be no parking for housing near public transit, allowing for adjacent dwellings in those neighborhoods that agree to them, and basement apartments outside of flood zones. And instead of transferring NYCHA development rights, use them to create affordable housing units, with sales prices pegged to the AMI.
Mayor Adams has Agreed to Cede Our Power & Funding to the Real Estate Industry - What Will the NYC Council do?
That the Mayor and legislators allow private industry to write - not comment - on legislation they drafted, shows who is in control of our government. And it's an indication of how close we all are - because they represent us - to relinquishing theirs and our role in the governance process. Those who give up their power - and because they represent us they are giving up our power - don't deserve to be re-elected. The Democratic primaries are only 6 months away.
Watch this vote, because it will tell you a lot about who is who, and what is what.
UPDATED NEW LINK _ Click this link to go to the NYC Council votes on the City of Yes tomorrow, Thursday, December 5, 2024.
LINK
The 'City of Yes' is an All Around Bad Deal
Novelist Rita Mae Brown said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." Based on that definition, I'd say NYC municipal government efforts to solving NYC's affordable housing crisis - including the City of Yes - are insane. Six months from now we get to again choose who will represent us. Pay attention to this vote and decide for yourself whether these people are solving our problems, or making not just housing, but all of them worse, by giving away so much future tax revenue, for so very, very little in return.
A child not beholden to the real estate industry for funding could negotiate a better deal.
2025 NYC Mayoral Candidates are On Board with REBNY, Stephen Ross & Company
If you're looking for a paladin in the upcoming 2025 NYC Mayoral primary, thus far none has materialized. All five of the announced candidates for NYC Mayor already appear to be beholden to the big money real estate, big money investors, that seem to have an outsized influence throughout a good portion of NYC government. As the graphic above or at right indicates, all are on board for the City of Yes.
But it's not too late for someone like Kathryn Garcia to set foot in the race. And she could be just what the doctor ordered to clean up all of the ineffective - if not corrupt - enforcement agencies in NYC that are part and parcel of NYC's housing problem.
Stay tuned.
NYC Weather. Sunrise 7.07 am. Sunset 5.12 pm. We're getting 50 more minutes of sunlight than we were the weekend of the Winter solstice in late December. The temperature highs will be in the high 30's on Friday and Saturday, rising to the mid 40's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the mid 30's on Friday and Sunday, dipping in between to 20 on Saturday. The humidity will rise to 80% assuming that precipitation arrives Friday evening, then dipping to 40% - 50% on Saturday, before rising back to 50% to 70% on Sunday. There's a 75% chance of a small amount of precipitation [1/5 inch tops] Friday evening. After that it's dry for the rest of the weekend.
The U.S. doesn't place any conditions on the money the U.S. government gives to Israel, which to date, totals more than a quarter TRILLION dollars in today's currency. Likely because of that, Netanyahu now flies around in the 'Wing of Zion' which is the Israeli equivalent of 'Air Force One', both of which were likely funded in part or in total by the American taxpayer. See Netanyahu and his wife disembarking from the 'Wing of Zion' in photo at right.
January thru Friday, January 31, 2025 - Curators Choice - at the Museum of the Moving Image is at 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria / LIC Queens. These are films shown in 2024 that the staff of MoMI selected as some of their favorites for viewing. For $10 - $17.50 tickets and details see - https://movingimage.org/series/curators-choice-2024/
The photo at right was taken last week on the Brooklyn Bridge, looking east toward Brooklyn. It was a nice sunny day with temperatures in the mid 30's to 40's, so even with the breeze, it was fairly comfortable.
The photo at right was taken this week in downtown Manhattan near City Hall, at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather was easily doable and I subsequently walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on a bright sunny day. I was not alone by any means, although most of those amongst us, seemed either to be tourists or NYC's energetic youths.
The photo at right was taken this week in Brooklyn, looking south toward Brooklyn Borough Hall.
The photo at right was taken this week from atop the Brooklyn Bridge. In the distance, is the Statue of Lady Liberty, standing tall and strong in the NYS Harbor, reminding us of our Constitutional philosophy and promise.
Monday, January 20, 2025 is a federal holiday, and as such, the Post Office and non-essential federal offices will be closed. Most non-essential NYS & NYC offices will also be closed and many large companies and some small ones also close for the holiday commemorating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. See graphic above.
Thursday, January 9 - Saturday, February 1, 2025 at various times - The Femme Collective - at the 14th Street Y at 344 East 14th Street in the Village. Three separate plays - Broken Thread, January and She Wolves - are collaborations by Multistages, Neo Political Cowgirls and the Eden Theatre Company, which will be performed this month. For details and $25 - $75 tickets see - https://ci.ovationtix.com/36649
January thru Friday, January 31, 2025 - Curators Choice - at the Museum of the Moving Image is at 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria / LIC Queens. These are films shown in 2024 that the staff of MoMI selected as some of their favorites for viewing. For $10 - $17.50 tickets and details see - https://movingimage.org/series/curators-choice-2024/
Thru January 20, 2025 from 10 am - 6 pm [open some nights] - NYBG Holiday Train Show - at the New York Botanical Garden at 2900 Southern Blvd in the Belmont Neighborhood. Bronx holiday events & things to do nyc. Central Bronx. For details see below or - https://www.nybg.org
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NYC Weather Forecast as of 12.20.24. Sunrise 7.16 am & Sunset at 4.31 pm. There's a chance of snow or rain between Friday evening and Saturday morning at 8 am. Thereafter the rest of the weekend is dry. The temperature highs will be in the mid 30's on Friday and Saturday, descending to the high 20's on Sunday. The temperature lows will be in the low 30's on Friday, descending into the mid to high teens on Saturday and Sunday. The humidity is 60 - 90% on Friday, descending to 50% - 80% on Saturday and then 30% - 50% on Sunday. The winds will be 10 mph on Friday and Sunday, climbing to between 10 - 20 mph on Saturday. So wear something warm that shields you from the wind, including a hat and gloves, to best enjoy your time outside.
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Friday, December 13, 2024 from 5 to 7 pm - Christmas Tree Lighting at Grand Army Plaza.jpeg)
Updated December 8, 2024 vs 12.6.24 / 
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The City of Yes for Housing Opportunities bill passed yesterday afternoon / evening in the City Council Chambers at City Hall. The City of Yes or NYC Municipal Legislative Bill - L.U. 181 & Res 689 - App. N 240290 ZRY (City of Yes Zoning for Housing Opportunity) amendment of the Zoning Resolution of the City of New York, modifying multiple Sections to expand opportunities for housing within all zoning districts, Citywide. *
November 30, 2024 vs 11.29.24 / 
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November 27, 2024 / 
November 22, 2024 / 
Many of the seasonal holiday markets are beginning to hit their full stride. We provided the short updates of them last week, and we'll provide the full updates for this weekend, along with some new additions and updates. We're also beginning to ramp up for the holiday events, which are beginning now, but accelerate very quickly next week and the following weekend. Click here for the 
Many of the seasonal holiday markets are beginning to hit their full stride. We provided the short updates of them last week, and we'll provide the full updates for this weekend, along with some new additions and updates. We're also beginning to ramp up for the holiday events, which are beginning now, but accelerate very quickly next week and the following weekend. Click here for the 
Many of the seasonal holiday markets are beginning to hit their full stride. We provided the short updates of them last week, and we'll provide the full updates for this weekend, along with some new additions and updates. We're also beginning to ramp up for the holiday events, which are beginning now, but accelerate very quickly next week and the following weekend. Click here for the 
Many of the seasonal holiday markets are beginning to hit their full stride. We provided the short updates of them last week, and we'll provide the full updates for this weekend, along with some new additions and updates. We're also beginning to ramp up for the holiday events, which are beginning now, but accelerate very quickly next week and the following weekend. Click here for the 
Project 2025 was put together by a group, of very conservative, right wing groups working in concert. This includes, according to a CNN report, 140 Trump affiliates, of which more than a dozen played some role in the first Trump Administration.
4. 'Cut the growth of the federal government to reduce inflation'. First take note that the last time Donald Trump was president, he significantly increased government spending, and super-sized the national debt from $20 trillion to $28 trillon - breaking all records by a landslide. So quite frankly, this is simply not believable.
If you've been reading my work, especially in recent times, you'll notice how increasingly frustrated I have become with TV News. If you want to know why America doesn't seem quite right, it's because the TV folks rarely seem to do any real reporting. In times gone by, the real reporting was done by the journalists working for the newspapers, and then the TV newspeople essentially rewrote and then reread the newspaper journalists' work on air.
It takes one to know one.
October 23, 2024 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Real Estate & Business / Gotham Buzz NYC.
October 22, 2024 / Government & Politics / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
by America's 44 previous presidents in the prior 225 years of the nation's existence.
Updated October 5, 2024 vs 10.4.24 / 
September 22 - 30, 2024 - The United Nations General Assembly begins. Dignitaries and diplomats will begin convening in earnest Sunday. Already this Friday 9/20/24, various groups that want to be heard, will be protesting the mishandling of their issues by various governments around the world. Road closures along the east side of Midtown, near the U.N. [generally in the low 40's streets], begin as early as Saturday evening at 8 pm, so be prepared for extra traffic jams in Manhattan.
NYC Weather Forecast as of 8.30.24. Sunrise 6.20 am & Sunset at 7.31 pm. Some rain expected Saturday night and early Sunday morning, so it should be a good weekend. Temperatures in the 80's during the day and 70's at night. A gentle breeze and humidity climbs gradually during the weekend, falling again on Monday.
August 27, 2024 / 
NYC Weather Forecast as of 7.19.24. Sunrise 5.41 am & Sunset at 8.22 pm. The temperature highs will be in the mid 80's all weekend, while the temperature lows will be in the low 70's all weekend. Winds will be a light breezy 4 - 7 mph all weekend. The humidity will be 40% - 60% on Friday, rising to 50% - 70% on Saturday and Sunday. No rain is in the weekend forecast. Not a bad weekend.
On Wednesday, July 24, 2024, from 8 am to 8 pm, there's a protest against alleged War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu at the Capitol in in Washington, D.C.
As I conducted my research, I decided that NOT to inquire about the Mayor's - seemingly unappreciated or underappreciated - Herculean effort to manage the huge influx of immigrants into NYC. This situation, turned crisis, began when Texas Governor Greg Abbott began bussing immigrants from Texas border towns, beginning in August 5, 2022, to NYC. Governor Abbott began transporting immigrants here without any communication nor coordination with NYS Governor Hochul or NYC Mayor Adams.
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The Jouvert then marched east along Empire Boulevard before turning south on Nostrand Avenue and terminating at Winthrop. I arrived a bit before noon, at Empire Blvd and Nostrand, where the Jouvert Parade had already passed. The Jouvert Parade involves participants adorning themselves with paint and powder, sometimes sharing it with others in a style that reminded me of the Indian Holi celebration.
Four years ago, on August 31, 2019, I visited the Floyd Bennett Airfield with the intention of doing a story on it, which - until now - I had not had an opportunity to do. On that visit, I biked the airfield, took photos in both the museum and peeked through the dusty windows of the hangars and warehouses on the airfield, to photographed our recent past.
Weather. There's a 60% probability of about a third inch of rain beginning sometime between 3 and 6 pm Sunday. The rest of the weekend should be clear. The temperature highs will be around 80 and the lows in the mid 60's all weekend. Humidity will range from 50% - 60% all weekend, except Sunday night when it rises to near 80% due to the rain. The winds will vary throughout the weekend from about 15 mph Friday, to 5 mph Saturday and 10 mph Sunday. All in all, not a bad weather weekend.
